MY PAGES TASTE EXCELLENT BUT ARE STICKIER THAN TOFFEE AND VERY DIFFICULT TO CHEW. Valentine looked disgusted. “What an appaling book. That’s the most useless thing it’s told us so far.” “No,” I told him. “It’s a very brave thing to say.”

“It’s bats, I know it is!” said her brother, happily. “I shall ensure that I sleep with my neck exposed tonight, in case one of them is a vampire bat. Then, if it bites me I shall be able to fly and sleep in a coffin, and never have to go to school in the daytime again.”